Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Landlords VS Tenants: A Critical Look at your Money’s Worth

False promises, poor communication, damaged
and dilapidating properties, unfair rent increases, poor resolution of
complaints, the list of tenant complaints about landlords could go on and on. But
it seems the landlords also have their own share of bad tenant experience.

CURRENT
STATE OF EVENTS

It appears tenants’ complaints will
increase owing to the high percentage of Londoners resorting to renting. It is
predicted by PwC that 60% of Londoners will be renters by 2025. The incidence
of “high prices, unattainable deposits and mortgages” has reduced the
percentage of people between the ages of 20-39 most likely to own a home by
2025 to 25% (theTelegraph) .

Recently, the UK capital has seen
a 7.7% increase resulting in an average rent of 1,543 while outside London
experienced a 5.1% increase to an average rent of 764 ( source The Guardian).

The facts above shows the effects
of the inflation on prices and purchasing power. Tenants pay more now and
expect to get their money’s worth.

Most disgruntled tenants complain
about dodgy landlords who wouldn’t honour the Tenancy agreement on repairs,
rent increases, deposits, etc. The Rogue Landlord covers his tracks so well
that most times there isn’t any legal implication of their actions. But an
angry soul needs an outlet. So tenants resorted to shaming Landlords on the
internet. The #ventyourrent is trending on twitter. But does it really have an impact?

Disgruntled and unhappy renters
in the UK have turned to twitter to shame their landlords. On twitter they put
up a picture with a placard with their address, rent and problems they are
experiencing. The #ventyourrent is trending as hundreds of UK residents have
joined in the trend. The complaints include bedbugs and other infestations,
broken appliances, no heater/boiler, unfair rent increase etc. The trend has
gotten the attention of Britain’s prime news house, the BBC, with an article “Vent your rent: How bad is yourhome?”.

But again, have all these really
made an impact? The impact of this campaign is yet to be felt by the teeming
tenant population of UK. Their frustrations are real and like all social media
campaigns, it is gathering momentum. We hope for a climax that helps their
situation.

Looking at both sides of the
coin, not all landlords are bad and not all tenants are good. Some landlords who
have experienced bad tenants also took to social media to vent their
frustration and experience with bad tenants.

This Australian Based Facebook page
Name and Shame Bad Tenants with 2,193 likes, regularly
features UK landlords venting their anger and frustration on defaulting and bad
tenants. Their strategy seems a bit more subtle as they only give the name of
the renter and how he mismanaged the apartment rented to him and advise other
landlords not to rent to the individual.

Landlords talk about dirty and
unruly renters, debtor renters, etc; and sound a warning to other landlords.
About 20,000 Landlords also use LandlordReferencing.co.uk to reference and it seems to
also blacklist tenants.

Is This An
Unfair Advantage?

The owner of the site, Paul
Routledge explains that the site is not a “tenant blacklist" but a
"community" where information is shared on both good and bad tenants.
He further explains how it works: "We don't give away information.
Landlords upload tenant information and if another landlord searches for them
and there's a match, we put the landlords in touch with one another." (Source
– The Gurdian)

When he was questioned about the
risk of a landlord lying in revenge to a tenant because of a minor misdemeanor,
he answered: “Why would they lie? They don't lie because it's a criminal
offence and because it's libelous. The site is data controlled and we vet the
information we are given. The site is basically to make sure landlords turn
down tenants who left their last property owing rent or having trashed the
place. We don't just add tenants because they've been a pain, because they got
orange paint on the carpet or owe £30, for example. They have to be pretty
bad." (Source – The Gurdian)

WHAT DO
GOVERNMENT/POLITICIANS SAY?

One of London’s top contender for
Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has promised to empower London rent payers to have their own
house and to improve the standards for those renting. Mr. Khan, as part of his Manifesto,
plans to name and shame Rogue Landlords in London via a website. He promises to
create a web based platform with a database of landlords who have been
successfully prosecuted in housing- related offences. In addition to this, the
UK government has announced that it will clamp down on Rogue Landlords and
letting Agents in the housing Bill. It will also setup a database of offenders
and seek banning orders and impose fines. (Source standard.co.uk)

The tussle between landlords and
tenants seems to have been a protracted one. But truth be told, there are bad
landlords and there are good landlords in the same way that we have good
tenants and bad tenants. It may not be fair to tag one party as the victim, but
a tenant deserves to get his money’s worth in the same way that a landlord
deserves to have his property treated well.

The scale is not perfectly balanced,
but these are our thoughts. They are not absolute and we would love to know
yours.